Perfect time for a family fishing trip to Leslie Dam

AS THE region's closest lake it's usually the first option if the wind is down and you have an electric motor.

Fortunately for anglers choosing Cooby Dam the fishing has been pretty consistent lately with plenty of nice yellowbelly landed all over the lake including out from the yacht club and along the buoy line.

Trolling has been a popular option using shallow diving lures like the stump jumpers close to the weed edges while jigging blades in the deep along with sinking saltwater yabbies have picked up their fair share of the fish.

LESLIE DAM

Leslie has been a very fish friendly place this year, perfect for the family to head out for the weekend and not come home empty-handed.

Unfortunately the size of the fish hasn't been great but the numbers have.

Most fish have been bordering on legal size around the 30cm mark mainly caught in the old creek bed.

As soon as it drops into the deeper water around 27ft the fish are stacked up and ready to bite on blades and saltwater yabbies.

COOLMUNDA DAM

Plenty of anglers have been out trying their luck over the past few weeks after seeing plenty of big cod landed here.

Unfortunately things have slowed down a bit but there are still plenty of yellowbelly around in the main basin caught using jigging blades and on bait.

While there is still a few nice cod landed there are a few casts in between.

Spinnerbaiting the standing timber has produced most of the quality fish.

KINCHENT DAM

Far north to the Mackay region, the barramundi fishing is red hot with huge numbers of big barra landed daily from Kinchent Dam.

Closer to home the barra lakes like Monduran and Awonga have recently flowed over and have become very tough to fish, making a trip up north well worth it.

Most anglers are using larger soft plastics like the squidgy slick rigs or other pre rigged soft plastics while swimbaits and vibes lures have also had good success fishing the weed beds.

GOLD COAST FISHING

Summer fishing is starting to kick in with lots of bream and whiting moving up onto the sand flats.

Flathead fishing surface lures in the morning have seen some good haul while for the bait angler fishing little to no weight has been key to the better sessions.

Outside the Dolphin Fish are moving in and getting a lot of anglers very excited.

The FAD (fish attracting device) located out from the Gold Coast is a hotspot for Dolphin Fish and many keen anglers are having a huge amount of success out there on live baits and trolled skirts.

SOMERSET DAM

The schooling bass at Somerset have been holding up really well this year. Usually they take a lot of fishing pressure and become shut down but they are continuing to bite and move around.

Most fish have been around the Pelican Point region spanning out to Red Rock, Brad's Bank and Wyangy Creek.

Any sinking lure work spoons and soft plastics have been the choice for most anglers and for the bait fisherman live shrimp and worms have also worked well.